Tommy Caldwell Top 40 Quotes

Tommy Caldwell is a rock climber from the United States who specializes in sport climbing, conventional hard climbing, big-wall climbing, and big-wall free climbing. In the beginning, he created free ascents of numerous EI Caption routes in Yosemite National Park.

Furthermore, in the Fortress of Solitude in Colorado, he made the first ascents of some of the country’s most difficult sport routes, including Kryptonite and Flex Luthor. After witnessing his performance, National Geographic considers Tommy Caldwell to be the world’s best all-around climber. Now, check out his best 40 quotations that will motivate you to win.

1. “For me, I love to dream big, and I love to find ways to be a bit of an explorer. These days, it seems like everything is padded and comes with warning labels.”― Tommy Caldwell

2. “I tend to walk through life sort of looking through a pair of binoculars, and I focus on certain things and push out the rest.”― Tommy Caldwell

3. “When I was super young, we were hiking to the top of the 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado. You know, when I was in my early teens, we went to Bolivia and climbed to the tops of the highest mountains in the Alps. You know, those experiences were so exciting that when I came back to school, I was actually quite bored.”― Tommy Caldwell

4. “In some ways, climbing in the clouds is comforting. You can no longer see how high off the ground you are.”― Tommy Caldwell

5. “I crave time in Yosemite like I crave food and water.”― Tommy Caldwell

6. “My earliest memory is being in a snow hole, aged two-and-a-half, with my dad somewhere up a mountain in a blizzard. I don’t know what my dad saw in me – I was a geeky kid – but he had that philosophy: prepare the kid for the road, not the road for the kid.”― Tommy Caldwell

7. “MY NATURAL ABILITIES WEREN’T NECESSARILY BRUTE POWER AND STRENGTH. THEY WERE MORE ABOUT THE ABILITY TO ENDURE AND NOT GIVE UP.”― TOMMY CALDWELL

8. “Stand at the base and look up at 3,000 feet of blankness. It just looks like there’s no way you can climb it. That’s what you seek as a climber. You want to find something that looks absurd and figure out how to do it.”― Tommy Caldwell

9. “I have been to Switzerland a handful of times, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to climb.”― Tommy Caldwell

10. “I’ve always been really curious about the limits of human capability.”― Tommy Caldwell

11. “I grew up a clumsy kid with bad hand-eye coordination. Yet here on El Cap, I felt as though I had stumbled into a world where I thrived. Being up on those steep walls demanded the right amount of climbing skill, pain tolerance, and sheer bull-headedness that came naturally to me.”― Tommy Caldwell

12. “As I get more experienced, I love the idea of going into big mountains and doing big climbs. But the problem is, it’s getting more dangerous, especially alpine climbing.”― Tommy Caldwell

13. “One of the reasons the Dawn Wall climb went so viral is that you get great Internet access on El Cap. It’s like the best Internet access in all of Yosemite, so we had our phones with us.”― Tommy Caldwell

14. “I have a very distinct goal all the time that I’m working toward, and I love the way it makes me live.”― Tommy Caldwell

15. “Through climbing, I’ve learned to find goals and work toward them. That’s just the way I love to live.”― Tommy Caldwell

16. “My motivation is internal.”― Tommy Caldwell

17. “Climbing a big wall over several days is like running a giant construction project: constantly making lists, rigging ropes, organising food, figuring out camera angles – but you’re in this crazy place with your best friends, and it does take on a party atmosphere sometimes, like a big dudes’ camping trip.”― Tommy Caldwell

18. “I’m always climbing.”― Tommy Caldwell

19. “For me, I love to dream big, and I love to find ways to be a bit of an explorer.”― Tommy Caldwell

20. “El Capitan is the most chapping environment in the world: windy, cold, super dry. I wake up twice a night and reapply lotion to my hands. We sand our fingertips to keep them smooth.”― Tommy Caldwell

21. “There are specific things in our world that are incredibly dangerous. Wingsuit BASE jumping is the very, very top of that. Big alpine climbing objectives are maybe right below that. I’ve probably had 20 friends die – people who were pretty close to me. I would say about 18 of them were because of snow.”― Tommy Caldwell

22. “The types of climbing that I choose to do I’m good at justifying. I do really try and pick things that I’m going to live through. I don’t want to die, and I’m relatively cautious. I play with that line all the time. I want things that are very exciting, so much so that they can feel almost spiritual.”― Tommy Caldwell

23. “I pretty much bailed on high school. I mean, I graduated, but I wasn’t even there for my own graduation.”― Tommy Caldwell

24. “In rock climbing, people get strong enough, and then they pick goals they can do with their strengths at that moment.”― Tommy Caldwell

25. “I am at a climbing area called the Wendenstock in Switzerland. This area has some of the best quality multi-pitch climbing I have seen on limestone. There is about a two-hour approach on one of the steepest grass slopes I have ever seen. The setting is amazing.”― Tommy Caldwell

26. “I travel and climb about eight months a year. That’s pretty great training in itself. When I am home, I do a lot of bouldering, gym climbing, and specific strength training in an effort to get stronger for climbing.”― Tommy Caldwell

27. “My wife always says that I function better up on a big wall than I do anywhere else in life.”― Tommy Caldwell

28. “I tend to pick objectives that I feel are safe because I know that, at the moment, I always go for it. I have some rules for myself, though: Look for the rock faces without a lot of loose rock. Always rope up on glaciers where there is even a slight chance of falling into a crevasse. No pure free soloing. Never climb below hanging glaciers.”― Tommy Caldwell

29. “The Dawn Wall and the Fitz Traverse were super-satisfying climbs. But I will always be searching for the next thing – the need to accomplish and explore are just woven into the fabric of who I am.”― Tommy Caldwell

30. “I have always let my motivation guide me, and that has served me well. Climbing has taught me how to thrive and created a life that I feel incredibly lucky to have.”― Tommy Caldwell

31. “One of the nice things about indoor training is you can make holds that are better on your skin, so you can train more before your fingers wear out. You can get stronger faster climbing inside.”― Tommy Caldwell

32. “I HAVE DIFFERENT SHOES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF CLIMBING, SIX OR SEVEN DIFFERENT SHOES THAT I ALTERNATE.”― TOMMY CALDWELL

33. “Every climb is different. The Dawn Wall was so dry and aggressive that my fingers would dry out to the point where they would crack. So I actually had to add as much moisture as possible.”― Tommy Caldwell

34. “I feel very lucky to be able to call my hobby my job, yet it doesn’t feel like one.”― Tommy Caldwell

35. “I love that idea of mastery.”― Tommy Caldwell

36. “From an early age, Yosemite became the centre of my universe. I’ve been going every summer since I was a child. I love everything about that place: waterfalls, high-quality rock, history.”― Tommy Caldwell

37. “I’ve climbed in a lot of places, but only once in the U.K., at Stanage Edge in the Peak District.”― Tommy Caldwell

38. “If you don’t have to worry about socializing because you don’t like it, you can more fully immerse yourself in climbing.”― Tommy Caldwell

39. “I don’t journal that much, honestly.”― Tommy Caldwell

40. “I’ve been climbing my whole life, so I know a lot of the feelings, the smells; these memories are pretty distinct in my mind still.”― Tommy Caldwell